Sci-fi books recommendation [+giveaway]

Foundation Trilogy, the gods themselves and basically all of Isaac Asimov

I only read the first book but as far as I know Ciaphas Cain is pretty entertaining.

I liked the Starship series by Mike Resnick

Try Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Start with "Red Mars" for a hard sci-fi into the terraformation and colonization of mars, from all of the environmental issues to economics and politics. It's a very good read if you are into that.

The Red Dwarf books are pretty good. But I'm not sure how well they'd hold their own if you didn't have love/nostalgia for the series.

H2G2, of course.

Depends what sort you like - hyperion is a little heavier than the Ender series (orson scott card), but much less metaphysical than sheri s tepper and faster than Neverness (david Zindell) and don't forget comedic sci-fi eg Hitchikers (Douglas adams)... or just plain like Bill the Galactic hero and Stainless steel rat (Harry Harrison). And there's easy reading epics like the deathstalker saga and fanboy Dr Who, Star Wars and Star Trek books. Too much to start with, so I always recommend the classics - for me asimov is the foundation of all good sci-fi ;-)

Ender's Game, and the whole series. Ender's Game is one of my favourite books ever. The rest of the series isn't quite as good, but still magnificent.

David Ambrose: Mother of God

Thanks for the giveaway!

The Takeshi Kovacs Trilogy by Richard Morgan. He mixes cyberpunk, noir, thriller, sci-fi and military drama depending on the books.
The first book is called Altered Carbon, and is probably my favourite of the trilogy, but the following two are also good.

Also try Embedded by Dan Abnett. That's a mix of military drama and sci-fi.

EDIT: And I forgot about most things by Jules Verne. They might not be that much of sci-fi today, but what he wrote about was certainly sci-fi when he wrote it in the 19th century, so they are interesting to read only to see how his predictions was (or wasn't) fulfilled.

And seeing as you might enjoy the 40K universe, try the Gaunts Ghosts series. Highly recommended.

The Dune (Saga) by Frank Herbert.

Dan Brown books?

Metro 2033

Check this: SF Masterworks

Anything Philip K. Dick is worth a read in my opinion. You know A Scanner Darkly, Minority Reports or Blade Runner? All based on his short novels...
Read his The Man in the high Castle for some alternate History SciFi.

Also, Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. The book that inspired Stalker, the movie, which inspired the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games

More of a fantasy reader myself, but I can say Anders series by Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein. A more grounded teen sci-fi/fantasy mix, good read anyways.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
War of the Worlds

Neuromancer (William Gibson), Ubik (P.K. Dick), Leviathan Wakes.

What about The Martian Chronicles? No one suggested it yet ;___;

zoo city

I got a good tip for you, but it's not really sci-fi...it's the 'The Age of Unreason' quadrilogy, but it's steampunk ^^

Currently reading "Horus Heresy" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus_Heresy_(novels) and i like it. Sorry for not linking it. Can someone do it for me ?

Bradbury and Philip K. Dick are great, although they are not strictly sci-fi more of a philosophical stuff.

something from Alastair Raynolds definitely ... i recommend starting with Revelation Space